


Endless story

by SHADOWSQUILL



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Nine is Death, Soul Screamers inspiration, death au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 14:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13837068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHADOWSQUILL/pseuds/SHADOWSQUILL
Summary: "He had been sitting there for days. Or maybe weeks. Or even months. Time didn’t matter to him. It had no hold over him. He was eternal."





	Endless story

He had been sitting there for days. Or maybe weeks. Or even months. Time didn’t matter to him. It had no hold over him. He was eternal. He had existed before Time and would exist even after. He was endless, and powerful. In the other hand, he had a tight hold on Time. On the end of times. Rare were the moments he appeared on the beginning, but he was always there for the end. Humans thought he was a concept, a name given to something so it wouldn’t scare them that much. Some welcomed him like an old friend, some were confused, some were fighting him. But, in the end, he always won, because he was Death and he was reaping the souls of all the dying.

Usually, you would think of Death like the Great Reaper all draped in its black coat, with its scythe in its skeletal hand. Legend. Nothing more than legend. In reality, Death was a business. It was a hierarchy and he was at the top of it. Older than Time itself, he was sitting on the realm of the dead and he was leading troops of reapers he was training himself. He was giving them places to be and lists of names to get the souls of the dying people. He had places to be and a list for himself. Only his employees and the dying persons could see him, and sometimes, being the boss of the Death company was a very lonely job.

The Doctor was just a normal man, wearing jeans with a plaid shirt and a tie. He was so far away from the _cliché_ of Death, and he liked it. He also liked coming around the persons of his list days before the end of their life so he could study them. That’s how he had ended up there, in that hospital room, sitting in the chair facing the bed. He only had that name on his list. A girl. Rose Tyler. Nineteen years old. He had been intrigued, he had to admit. She had been on his list many times before but her name had always been removed before he could achieve his mission so when it had appeared again, he had only waited for it to disappear again. But it never did.

Her death wasn’t for the days to come, but it was soon enough, and he wanted to know why she had escaped him so many times before. That’s why he had come down to Earth and settled down in that hospital room for longer than expected. No one but his reapers coming for their report could see him. He was invisible, inaudible. Just a ghost wandering around. There were a lot of ghosts in a hospital. People that died while they weren’t on the list. Stuck on Earth until a reaper could come and take their soul. Sometimes, there were reapers who took pity on them and accepted to take them as an extra. It was against the laws, but the Doctor closed his eyes on that. They might be dead, but they still had a heart.

And that was all the problem for Rose Tyler’s case. His heart. He had learnt to know her over the days he had spent sitting in her room. An only child raised by her mother. Her father died when she was just a baby from the incurable disease that was killing her now. However, she refused to give up on her life and to let her mother alone on that Earth. So, she was fighting with an admirable bravery and the strengths she was using to stay alive along with the gentleness and bright personality she was showing to everyone coming around her had moved him. She was dying and yet, she was devoted to the other persons around her and making sure they were going well, listening to them when they weren’t and helping them out the best she could.

The Doctor was dead. He had never really been alive, and his heart had never beaten, but he had to admit that the young woman was giving him feelings he had never felt before. Admiration for the struggle she was having against him. Compassion for someone who didn’t deserve to die so young. Reluctance to take her soul. And yet, he had to. Her life was coming to an end and he was there to take her with him. Could he really end someone’s life when that person could do so much good around her? He had created the rules. He knew that he had to do it, even if he didn’t want to. He glanced at the fob watch fastened to the loop of his jeans and opened it. Time was coming.

 

Rose Tyler suddenly opened her eyes. The pain was real in her body language and she could barely breathe despite the oxygen they were giving her through a machine. She knew her time was coming, and maybe that was why she could see that man sat on the chair facing her bed. He had been there for a while, just observing her, and no one else seemed to be able to see him. She had come to the conclusion that he was there for the moment she would die. She hadn’t imagined Death to look that way, but the man was rather handsome with his piercing blue eyes, short grey hair and his neat and tidy look. He was sometimes smiling, but his smile looked sad, and his eyes showed the loneliness he was suffering from. Or was she only imagining all of that?

It was late in the night and she was alone in the room. Her mother had gone home earlier to take a shower and get some rest. They had both thought they still had time, but the truth was, they didn’t have any. Rose had felt her strength over the weeks and Death was there for her. He had been waiting patiently until the proper moment came. And now, he was glancing at his watch, and she was feeling her end coming. She had to know though.

 

“You’re here for me, aren’t you?”

 

Her voice was so weak that he barely heard her. He had to raise his head and see by himself that she was looking straight at him to understand she was talking to him. She could see him because her time had come to an end. But she was the first one to ever speak to him that way. Usually, they asked who he was and what he was there for. She was clever, very clever.

 

“Yes, I am.”

“You’ve been waiting here for a while.”

“You shouldn’t have been able to see me before.”

“But I did. What does that mean?”

“I’m afraid your time has come to an end.”

“I’ve known it the moment I saw you.”

“You’re only supposed to see me when it’s over.”

 

He glanced at his watch. The second hand was ticking the seconds away, and Rose’s breathing was becoming more irregular. A nurse came in, alerted by the sudden change in Rose’s heart rate. She tried to make everything in her power for Rose to feel more comfortable, but it was too late.

 

“Tell my mom…” mumbled Rose through her laboured breath.

“It’s time,” murmured the Doctor.

 

He closed the watch and slipped it back in his pocket. He got up and strengthened his clothes as Rose murmured her last words for her mother. Words the Doctor didn’t listen to. They usually were the same: words of love, words of regret. He had heard them all before.

Life left Rose Tyler’s body and the monitor displayed a flatline. The nurse called the blue code as she started a heart massage but there was no hope left. Rose’s soul was already facing him. He held a hand out to her.

 

“Now we have to go.”

“Where?”

“Where you’re going isn’t up to me. Paradise, hell, that’s not my area.”

“What’s your area?”

“Death. Leading the dead to the last door where they meet their afterlife fate.”

“And you?” asked Rose.

 

She took the hand he was offering her and intertwined their fingers. She had thought he would be as cold as an ice cube but his skin was just pleasantly cool. She followed him as he led her to the first step of her afterlife.

 

“I’m not meant for Paradise or Hell. I’m just Death. I wander here and there, I gather the souls and bring them to their last home.”

“That seems like a lonely sad job.”

“It is.”

 

Even in her death she remained faithful to her personality. She was gentle and caring. No one had ever cared for him before. No one had ever asked him what he was meant to do, or how he felt about that life. He never wondered about it all either honestly.

 

“But I do have employees.”

 

There were now walking down the corridor that was taking them to the last door. The last door was changing all the time according to the person he was accompanying. He was ready to bet that the gates of heaven would open wide for that bright gentle girl. He didn’t think any second that she could be meant for hell. Not from what he had seen from her.

 

“So you’re not alone.”

“I only see them when they have a report to do about their missions. Or when I…”

“When you what?”

“My reapers are people who died and were offered a third choice. They could either go to the place they were meant to or work for me. They are standing in front of two doors: one of them is heaven or hell, the other is my office.”

“You do have an office?”

“Where do you think I keep all my lists and reports? Death is nothing more but a business.”

“Do you think I will have the choice?”

 

He stopped, surprised by her question. They weren’t far from the door now. Surprisingly, he hadn’t let go of her hand and she hadn’t let go of his. He normally just held people’s hand to teleport them there. He didn’t hold it until the end. Well, normally, people weren’t so chatty and friendly with him. They were rather gloomy and silent. Rose stopped and looked up at him.

 

“Why would you choose an afterlife that’s condemning you to solitude and sadness and deadly routine?”

“To help you, and be with you.”

 

The seriousness and lack of hesitation she was showing him struck him and left him speechless. He didn’t know what to answer to such a declaration. That was a first! Really unexpected for him who had been around for a very long time.

 

“I’ve seen you observing me for weeks, and you looked so sad, so lonely there that I thought you needed a friend.”

“I-”

“Everyone needs a friend, right?”

 

The Doctor was definitely out of words, and the only thing he could do was grin at her. The tongue-poking smile she gave him in return sent a whole electric discharge in his dead body. Rose Tyler was definitely full of surprises if she could make him feel _alive_.

 

“Let’s see what the future holds in store for you then.”

 

They started walking again and the more they were getting closer, the more the Doctor could see that there was only one door in front of them. One door. No choice. She was meant for heaven and his dead heart seemed to break at the thought he would never see her again. Until he realised what door it was. His door. It was _his_ freaking door. She had had the choice and she had already made it. She wanted that afterlife with him.

 

“It looks like we are going to work together, Rose Tyler.”

 

He opened the door and let her get in his office first. The grin she gave him was electrifying and giving him hope for the days to come. Death wouldn’t be so dull with her by his side. At least, he was given the chance to offer an endless story to that incredible and strong woman who moved his dead heart…


End file.
